You heard it here!
April 2014
PUBLIC HOUSING – PUBLIC MEETING
Wednesday 7 April
7 — 8.30pm
Old Fire Station
113 Mitchell Street, Glebe
Tenants from Millers Point
tell of their fight to save their homes
Hear the latest plans for Cowper Street
Support Hands off Glebe
BUY RAFFLE TICKETS
Prize: breakfast, lunch or dinner to the value of $50 at ESCA
333b Glebe Point Road (near Wigram Road)
Tickets $1 each or book of 12 for $10
Ring Denis on 0418 290 663 for tickets
The Glebe Grapevine is a publication of Hands Off Glebe Inc.
Contact: P.O. Box 145, Glebe NSW 2037.
Ring Denis on 0418 290 663 or Julie on 0426 503 351
E: glebegrapevine@gmail.com www.glebegrapevine.org
PAGE 2
Save Millers Point
A large and angry meeting at Balmain Town Hall has endorsed Leichhardt Council’s community campaign to protect public housing tenants from eviction.
The meeting followed Minister Pru Goward’s announcement that 300 Housing NSW properties in Millers Point will be sold. Leichhardt is seeking cooperation from neighbouring councils to prevent sell offs in other areas such as Glebe. The sale of Millers Point adjacent to Packer’s Barangaroo redevelopment will destroy a community that has been there for generations.
The Balmain meeting called on the State Government to increase investment in new public housing and maintaining existing homes.
The meeting also called on local Councils across Sydney to take a stand against public housing sell-offs and to attend a mass rally to demonstrate support for public housing in our city.
Sydney City Council has voted $100,000 for legal support for the Millers Point tenants and $10,000 for the community campaign.
—————————————————————————————
Selling Wentworth Park
A sigh of relief could be heard when the O’Farrell government rejected a proposal to sell Wentworth Park greyhound track and parts of Blackwattle Bay foreshore for 700 apartments.
However, with Barry O’Farrell’s resignation as Premier things may change.
The racing track at Wentworth Park is public open space on Crown Land, not privately owned by Brookfield Multiplex or Greyhound NSW.
Local MP Jamie Parker said: ‘With huge and increasing demand for sporting and open space in the in the local community, this proposal was sheer fantasy.
———————————————————————————————————-
That leak ….
The leak behind 75-67 Mitchell St is still there. It flows into Boughton Lane and out on to Mitchell Street Housing NSW have assured us there is no leak, if there is a leak they have fixed it and it’s the Council’s responsibility to fix it, not theirs.
Yesterday upon the street
I saw no leak beneath my feet
It wasn’t there again today
I wish that leak would go away
PAGE 3
Cowper Street three years on
Three years post demolition the Cowper Street site remains a peaceful oasis with Ibis and ducks attracted by fresh rainwater ponds and new growth. Last year many locals collected Christmas trees that had sprung up in the wake of destruction.
The NSW government says it intends to transfer part of the site over to social and affordable housing provider Bridge Housing to build high rise towers for public housing with a completion date of late 2016. Bridge Housing have been around since 2009 and depend upon grants and property transfers to exist. They made an operating loss of over $400,000 last year and have a history of increasing tenant complaints and maintenance backlogs.
Former tenants had been told they would be given the option of returning to Cowper Street but recently Minister Pru Goward announced that evicted Millers Point and Rocks residents will be moved into Cowper Street on completion.
Welcome home to residents who were moved from Cowper Street to the Rocks 4 years ago!
Hands off Glebe opposes plans to sell off parts of the site to the private sector. Privatising half the land will mean a loss of public housing which is unacceptable, especially at a time of huge waiting lists and growing homelessness.
Hands off Glebe will be launching a postcard campaign soon to inundate the Premier with demands that the entire Cowper Street site be kept for public housing.
Selling off our homes
Hundreds of homes across the state have been sold by the NSW Government on the promise that the proceeds will be used to fund more public housing. In 2001 there were 124,098 public housing dwellings but by 2013 the number had dropped to 117,798.
The only criteria for sale seem to be that the house is worth a bob. Beach suburb houses in the Illawarra built on swamp land close to sewerage works 40 or 50 years ago are being sold and their tenants evicted. Inner city terraces once considered slums are being sold and the tenants moved on. According to Pru Goward the suburbs around Campbelltown are suitable for public housing. Tell that to people who have lived in the inner city all their lives.
PAGE 4
MARCH FOR MAINTENANCE
‘This is our city and we will not be driven from it!’ declared Denis Doherty from Hands off Glebe to the cheers of about 150 people outside NSW Parliament House demonstrating in support of public housing on March 27.
Defying constant rain, public housing communities from Millers Point, Wollongong, Balmain, Glebe, Camperdown, Auburn, Marrickville, and other suburbs marched through the streets chanting “Defend Public Housing! Save Millers Point!”
Representatives from public housing groups, ALP state leader John Robertson and MP for Balmain spoke at the rally.
Pru’s Contempt
The Select Committee into Social Public and Affordable Housing was announced on 13 November 2013. Submissions closed on 28 February 2014 and public hearings are currently underway.
By announcing on 19 March 2014 that all public housing in the Rocks and Millers Point area is to be sold, Pru Goward has treated the community, the entire committee, and the Parliament, with contempt.
———————————————————————————
Council ignores community over Harold Park
At a packed meeting at the Sydney Town Hall, a motion to widen a road into the planned Harold Park oversize supermarket (formerly the Tram Sheds). The road threatens access to the park and put children dogs and adults in danger. The motion went through quickly amid shouts of disapproval from the audience – “You work for Mirvac, not the residents!!’ The community had held a protest on the site the day before but fell on deaf ears as every councilor except the Greens Irene Doutney voted for it and against the community.
———————————————————————————
Westmoreland Street
Sydney City Council objected to our article about changes to Westmoreland Street in February’s Grapevine. Follow the debate on our website at www.glebegrapevine.org. Click on the Westmoreland tab in the menu.
Hands off Glebe are consulting with residents in Westmoreland Street and will let the community and Council know the results.
Local gardeners can obtain a litre or two of worm wee or a kilo or two of worm casings free by emailing Denis at glebegrapevine@gmail.com or ring 0418 290 663.